The Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale has nothing in the Waffle House Index.

Popular Southern breakfast company Waffle House announced it would close dozens of Florida locations in the wake of Hurricane Milton, using an unorthodox – but surprisingly accurate – indicator of the storm’s expected severity called the “Waffle House Index.” is known.

“Our #whindex status maps reflect our closures from 2pm today in the lead up to #HurricaneMilton. More updates to follow. Please stay safe,” the chain wrote in a post on its official X account alongside maps showing closed locations in Tampa and Fort Myers, represented by red dots.

The Category 4 hurricane is expected to make landfall on Florida’s west coast after dark on Wednesday, bringing potentially catastrophic sustained winds of 145 miles per hour. Millions have fled the state in one of the largest evacuations in the state’s history.

The chain’s 1,600 locations are spread across much of the American South, from the Mid-Atlantic to Florida, and cover much of the Gulf Coast.

But the restaurant has a reputation for staying open — albeit sometimes with limited menu offerings — no matter what Mother Nature cooks up.

Even in the rare cases when restaurants close, such as during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, restaurants are scrambling to reopen quickly to offer hungry diners in storm-hit areas a taste of normalcy — with a side of waffles and grits.

Restaurants are so reliably open that the iconic illuminated black and yellow signs signal to passing motorists that a predicted storm may not be as worrisome as predicted.

However, when the signs are turned off, it indicates that a real severe weather event is on the horizon.

“When you get there and the Waffle House is closed?” FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate is quoted in a company blog post. “This is really bad. That’s where you go to work.”

Fugate is credited with developing the Waffle House Index in 2004 when he was looking for a hot meal after surveying the damage caused by Hurricane Charley. He quickly realized that Waffle House was the only option.

As his team worked after the storm, they continually found that Waffle Houses were often the only restaurants open in storm-hit areas, even those where water and power were out.

They later recorded the restaurants’ open or closed status on a color-coded map distributed by the team to give officials and members of the public an at-a-glance view of where the storm had caused the most damage, CBS reported.

Green means everything is running as usual, yellow means open with limited menu options, and the dreaded red dots mean a location is closed – indicating significant storm damage or unsafe conditions.

Based on the abundance of red dots on the latest Waffle House Index map the company shared Wednesday, shelter-seekers may have to wait until Milton comes through before gorging themselves on sausage biscuits and omelets.